Tommy Sheppard is used to being busy in July. There are always acts to book, venues to prepare, tickets to sell. Sheppard still bears traces of his life as impresario at the Stand Comedy Club – polka dot tie, unkempt thatch of spiky hair – but nowadays it is the business of Parliament, not the upcoming Edinburgh Fringe, that has him run ragged.

Because, of course, Westminster, and everything it stands for, is essentially their worst nightmare. And yet here they are now, part of it. What’s it like, I ask Tommy Sheppard, the new member for Edinburgh East, being in the belly of the beast?

Tommy Sheppard has been misquoted three times in two parliaments in one week. Here he sets the record straight...

Having been misquoted by the Prime Minister and the opposition front bench on the same day I’m not sure whether to feel victimised or honoured. So let me start by being very clear. I fully support devolving all control over raising and spending public finances to Scotland. Full fiscal autonomy (FFA), as some call it, would allow Scotland’s government to operate like most other devolved legislatures in the modern world.

The former Labour deputy general secretary, turned SNP MP, talks to CommonSpace about life at Westminster Tommy Sheppard is no stranger to stand up.

He is, after all, the owner of the renowned Stand Comedy Club venues and also sits on the board of directors of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. However, since parliament officially opened last week, the stand up routines performed in the chamber of the House of Commons have left the newly-elected MP baffled.

One of the more pleasing aspects of the new intake of SNP MPs at Westminster is that so many of them come from varied backgrounds, and nearly all of them have had a career or life outside of politics as well as some experience of public service.

Tommy Sheppard is an ideal example of a new politically aware member with a hinterland. The Northern Ireland-born graduate of Aberdeen University is the founder of The Stand comedy club chain, which is also now in its fourth year of running one of the largest operations of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He also failed to win TV’s Masterchef in 1996, though he was a Scottish area finalist.

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any more farcical, yesterday happened. Government ministers spent the weekend assuring us the vote planned for today would go ahead. Some were even claiming the PM might win it (it’s nearly Christmas after all, the season of miracles). Even late yesterday morning the Downing St press office were still telling us the vote was going ahead, while the PM was h...

It’s been a little while since I've written a blog on Brexit. Things are now moving quite quickly so I thought it might be helpful for me to share a few of my thoughts on where we are.The proposal put forward by Theresa May last week is not a good one and not one I can support. While the SNP Scottish government remain of the view that the best option for Scotland would be to remain in the European...

The budget was last week. Did you notice? As squibs go, this one was pretty damp. We’ll be debating the detail in the finance bill next week but the real story is one of indifference and missed opportunity.Since the 2008 crash, governments across the western world have seen their revenues unable to meet spending. In the US and most European countries the response was to use the power and funds of ...